Spatial Semantic Fuzzing for LiDAR-Based Autonomous Driving Perception Systems

An Guo, Zhiwei Su, Xinyu Gao, Chunrong Fang, Senrong Wang, Haoxiang Tian, Wu Wen, Lei Ma, Zhenyu Chen

Abstract: Autonomous driving systems (ADSs) have the potential to enhance safety through advanced perception and reaction capabilities, reduce emissions by alleviating congestion, and contribute to various improvements in quality of life. Despite significant advancements in ADSs, several real-world accidents resulting in fatalities have occurred due to failures in the autonomous driving perception modules. As a critical component of autonomous vehicles, LiDAR-based perception systems are marked by high complexity and low interpretability, necessitating the development of effective testing methods for these systems. Current testing methods largely depend on manual data collection and labeling, which restricts their ability to detect a diverse range of erroneous behaviors. This process is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it may also result in the recurrent discovery of similar erroneous behaviors during testing, hindering a comprehensive assessment of the systems. In this paper, we propose and implement a fuzzing framework for LiDAR-based autonomous driving perception systems, named LDFuzz, grounded in metamorphic testing theory. This framework offers the first uniform solution for the automated generation of tests with oracle information. To enhance testing efficiency and increase the number of tests that identify erroneous behaviors, we incorporate spatial and semantic coverage based on the characteristics of point cloud data to guide the generation process. We evaluate the performance of LDFuzz through experiments conducted on four LiDAR-based autonomous driving perception systems designed for the 3D object detection task. The experimental results demonstrate that the tests produced by LDFuzz can effectively detect an average of 7.5% more erroneous behaviors within LiDAR-based perception systems than the optimal baseline. Furthermore, the findings indicate that LDFuzz significantly enhances the diversity of failed tests.

External IDs:doi:10.1109/tse.2025.3627580